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Sundance 2014 Lineup Features Kristen Wiig, Susan Sarandon, John Slattery, and More

Everett Collection
The 2014 Sundance Film Festival lineup for the U.S. and World Cinema Dramatic and Documentary competition and the out-of-competition NEXT section is officially here, and damn are we excited.
As the festival has evolved and grown, so has the long list of actors and directors who have eagerly jumped on board to be a part of the indie film scene, which means that the lineup of actors for the upcoming event is looking pretty solid. In 2014 we can look forward to seeing the works of those like Glenn Close, Susan Sarandon, John Slattery, Aaron Paul, Kristen Stewart, and Mark Ruffalo, and comedians such as Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, Lena Dunham, Jenny Slate, Aubrey Plaza, Amy Sedaris, and more.
The festival will run from Jan. 16 to 26 in Park City, Utah and will include 118 features. Still to come are the lineups for Slates for Spotlight, Park City at Midnight, New Frontier, Premieres and Documentary Premieres, and the new Sundance Kids category.
Check out the lineup so far (via Vulture):
DRAMATIC COMPETITION
Camp X-Ray / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Peter Sattler) — A young woman is stationed as a guard in Guantanamo Bay, where she forms an unlikely friendship with one of the detainees. Cast: Kristen Stewart, Payman Maadi, Lane Garrison, J.J. Soria, John Carroll Lynch.Cold in July / U.S.A. (Director: Jim Mickle, Screenwriters: Jim Mickle, Nick Damici) — After killing a home intruder, a small town Texas man's life unravels into a dark underworld of corruption and violence. Cast: Michael C. Hall, Don Johnson, Sam Shepard, Vinessa Shaw, Nick Damici, Wyatt Russell.Dear White People / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Justin Simien) — Four black students attend an Ivy League college where a riot breaks out over an “African American” themed party thrown by white students. With tongue planted firmly in cheek, the film explores racial identity in postracial America while weaving a story about forging one's unique path in the world. Cast: Tyler Williams, Tessa Thompson, Teyonah Parris, Brandon Bell.Fishing Without Nets / U.S.A., Somalia, Kenya (Director: Cutter Hodierne, Screenwriters: Cutter Hodierne, John Hibey, David Burkman) — A story of pirates in Somalia told from the perspective of a struggling, young Somali fisherman. Cast: Abdikani Muktar, Abdi Siad, Abduwhali Faarah, Abdikhadir Hassan, Reda Kateb, Idil Ibrahim.God's Pocket / U.S.A. (Director: John Slattery, Screenwriters: John Slattery, Alex Metcalf) — When Mickey's stepson Leon is killed in a construction "accident," Mickey tries to bury the bad news with the body. But when the boy's mother demands the truth, Mickey finds himself stuck between a body he can’t bury, a wife he can’t please, and a debt he can’t pay. Cast: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Richard Jenkins, Christina Hendricks, John Turturro.Happy Christmas / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Joe Swanberg) — After a breakup with her boyfriend, a young woman moves in with her older brother, his wife, and their 2-year-old son. Cast: Anna Kendrick, Melanie Lynskey, Mark Webber, Lena Dunham, Joe Swanberg.Hellion / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Kat Candler) — When motocross and heavy metal obsessed, 13-year-old Jacob's delinquent behavior forces CPS to place his little brother Wes with his aunt, Jacob and his emotionally absent father must finally take responsibility for their actions and each other in order to bring Wes home. Cast: Aaron Paul, Juliette Lewis, Josh Wiggins, Deke Garner, Jonny Mars, Walt Roberts.Infinitely Polar Bear / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Maya Forbes) — A manic-depressive mess of a father tries to win back his wife by attempting to take full responsibility of their two young, spirited daughters, who don't make the overwhelming task any easier. Cast: Mark Ruffalo, Zoe Saldana, Imogene Wolodarsky, Ashley Aufderheide.Jamie Marks is Dead / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Carter Smith) — No one seemed to care about Jamie Marks until after his death. Hoping to find the love and friendship he never had in life, Jamie’s ghost visits former classmate Adam McCormick, drawing him into the bleak world between the living and the dead. Cast: Cameron Monaghan, Noah Silver, Morgan Saylor, Judy Greer, Madisen Beaty, Liv Tyler.Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter / U.S.A. (Director: David Zellner, Screenwriters: David Zellner, Nathan Zellner) — A lonely Japanese woman becomes convinced that a satchel of money buried in a fictional film is, in fact, real. Abandoning her structured life in Tokyo for the frozen Minnesota wilderness, she embarks on an impulsive quest to search for her lost mythical fortune. Cast: Rinko Kikuchi.Life After Beth / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Jeff Baena) — Zach is devastated by the unexpected death of his girlfriend, Beth. When she mysteriously returns, he gets a second chance at love. Soon his whole world turns upside down... Cast: Aubrey Plaza, Dane DeHaan, John C. Reilly, Molly Shannon, Cheryl Hines, Paul Reiser.Low Down / U.S.A. (Director: Jeff Preiss, Screenwriters: Amy Albany, Topper Lilien) — Based on Amy Jo Albany's memoir, Low Down explores her heart-wrenching journey to adulthood while being raised by her father, bebop pianist Joe Albany, as he teeters between incarceration and addiction in the urban decay and waning bohemia of Hollywood in the 1970s. Cast: John Hawkes, Elle Fanning, Glenn Close, Lena Headey, Peter Dinklage, Flea.The Skeleton Twins / U.S.A. (Director: Craig Johnson, Screenwriters: Craig Johnson, Mark Heyman) — Estranged twins Maggie and Milo coincidentally cheat death on the same day, prompting them to reunite and confront the reasons their lives went so wrong. As the twins' reunion reinvigorates them, they realize the key to fixing their lives may just lie in repairing their relationship. Cast: Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig, Luke Wilson, Ty Burrell, Boyd Holbrook, Joanna Gleason.The Sleepwalker / U.S.A., Norway (Director: Mona Fastvold, Screenwriters: Mona Fastvold, Brady Corbet) — A young couple, Kaia and Andrew, are renovating Kaia´s secluded family estate. Their lives are violently interrupted when unexpected guests arrive. The Sleepwalker chronicles the unraveling of the lives of four disparate characters as it transcends genre conventions and narrative contrivance to reveal something much more disturbing. Cast: Gitte Witt, Christopher Abbott, Brady Corbet, Stephanie Ellis.Song One / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Kate Barker-Froyland) — Estranged from her family, Franny returns home when an accident leaves her brother comatose. Retracing his life as an aspiring musician, she tracks down his favorite musician, James Forester. Against the backdrop of Brooklyn’s music scene, Franny and James develop an unexpected relationship and face the realities of their lives. Cast: Anne Hathaway, Johnny Flynn, Mary Steenburgen, Ben Rosenfield.Whiplash / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Damien Chazelle) — Under the direction of a ruthless instructor, a talented young drummer begins to pursue perfection at any cost, even his humanity. Cast: Miles Teller, JK Simmons.
NEXT
Appropriate Behavior / U.S.A., United Kingdom (Director and screenwriter: Desiree Akhavan) — Shirin is struggling to become an ideal Persian daughter, a politically correct bisexual, and a hip, young Brooklynite, but fails miserably in her attempt at all identities. Being without a cliché to hold on to can be a lonely experience. Cast: Desiree Akhavan, Rebecca Henderson, Halley Feiffer, Scott Adsit, Anh Duong, Arian Moayed. World Premiere.Drunktown's Finest / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Sydney Freeland) — Three young Native Americans—a rebellious father-to-be, a devout Christian woman, and a promiscuous transsexual—come of age on an Indian reservation. Cast: Jeremiah Bitsui, Carmen Moore, Morningstar Angeline, Kiowa Gordon, Shauna Baker, Elizabeth Francis. World Premiere.The Foxy Merkins / U.S.A. (Director: Madeleine Olnek, Screenwriters: Lisa Haas, Jackie Monahan, Madeleine Olnek) — Two lesbian hookers work the streets of New York. One is a down-on-her-luck newbie; the other is a beautiful—and straight—grifter who's an expert on picking up women. Together they face bargain-hunting housewives, double-dealing conservative women, and each other in this prostitute buddy comedy. Cast: Lisa Haas, Jackie Monahan, Alex Karpovsky, Susan Ziegler, Sally Sockwell, Deb Margolin.A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Ana Lily Amirpour) — In the Iranian ghost town Bad City, a place that reeks of death and loneliness, depraved denizens are unaware they are being stalked by a lonesome vampire. Cast: Sheila Vand, Arash Marandi, Dominic Rains, Marshall Manesh, Mozhan Marnó, Milad Eghbali. World Premiere.Imperial Dreams / U.S.A. (Director: Malik Vitthal, Screenwriters: Malik Vitthal, Ismet Prcic) — A 21-year-old, reformed gangster's devotion to his family and his future are put to the test when he is released from prison and returns to his old stomping grounds in Watts, Los Angeles. Cast: John Boyega, Rotimi Akinosho, Glenn Plummer, Keke Palmer, De'aundre Bonds. World Premiere.Land Ho! / U.S.A., Iceland (Directors and screenwriters: Martha Stephens, Aaron Katz) — A pair of ex-brothers-in-law set off to Iceland in an attempt to reclaim their youth through Reykjavik nightclubs, trendy spas, and rugged campsites. This bawdy adventure is a throwback to 1980s road comedies, as well as a candid exploration of aging, loneliness, and friendship. Cast: Paul Eenhoorn, Earl Nelson, Alice Olivia Clarke, Karrie Krouse, Elizabeth McKee, Emmsjé Gauti. World Premiere.Listen Up Philip / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Alex Ross Perry) — A story about changing seasons and changing attitudes, a newly accomplished writer faces mistakes and miseries affecting those around him, including his girlfriend, her sister, his idol, his idol's daughter, and all the ex-girlfriends and enemies that lie in wait on the open streets of New York. Cast: Jason Schwartzman, Elisabeth Moss, Jonathan Pryce, Krysten Ritter, Josephine de La Baume. World Premiere.Memphis / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Tim Sutton) — A strange singer drifts through the mythic city of Memphis, surrounded by beautiful women, legendary musicians, a stone-cold hustler, a righteous preacher, and a wolf pack of kids. Under a canopy of ancient oak trees and burning spirituality, his doomed journey breaks from conformity and reaches out for glory. Cast: Willis Earl Beal, Lopaka Thomas, Constance Brantley, Devonte Hull, John Gary Williams, Larry Dodson. World Premiere.Obvious Child / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Gillian Robespierre) — An honest comedy about what happens when Brooklyn comedian Donna Stern gets dumped, fired, and pregnant, just in time for the worst/best Valentine's Day of her life. Cast: Jenny Slate, Jake Lacy, Gaby Hoffmann, David Cross, Gabe Liedman, Richard Kind. World Premiere.Ping Pong Summer / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Michael Tully) — 1985. Ocean City, Maryland. Summer vacation. Rap music. Parachute pants. Ping pong. First crushes. Best friends. Mean bullies. Weird mentors. That awkward, momentous time in your life when you're treated like an alien by everyone around you, even though you know deep down you're as funky fresh as it gets. Cast: Susan Sarandon, John Hannah, Lea Thompson, Amy Sedaris, Robert Longstreet, Marcello Conte. World Premiere.War Story / U.S.A. (Director: Mark Jackson, Screenwriters: Kristin Gore, Mark Jackson) — A war photographer retreats to a small town in Sicily after being held captive during the conflict in Libya. Cast: Catherine Keener, Hafsia Herzi, Vincenzo Amato, Donatella Finocchiaro, Ben Kingsley. World Premiere.
U.S. DOCUMENTARY COMPETITIONAlive Inside: A Story of Music &amp; Memory / U.S.A. (Director: Michael Rossato-Bennett) — Five million Americans suffer from Alzheimer's disease and dementia—many of them alone in nursing homes. A man with a simple idea discovers that songs embedded deep in memory can ease pain and awaken these fading minds. Joy and life are resuscitated, and our cultural fears over aging are confronted. All the Beautiful Things / U.S.A. (Director: John Harkrider) — John and Barron are lifelong friends whose friendship is tested when Barron's girlfriend says Barron put a knife to her throat and raped her. Not knowing she has lied, John tells her to go to the police. Years later, John and Barron meet in a bar to resolve the betrayal.CAPTIVATED The Trials of Pamela Smart / U.S.A., United Kingdom (Director: Jeremiah Zagar) — In an extraordinary and tragic American story, a small town murder becomes one of the highest profile cases of all time. From its historic role as the first televised trial to the many books and movies made about it, the film looks at the media’s enduring impact on the case. The Case Against 8 / U.S.A. (Directors: Ben Cotner, Ryan White) — A behind-the-scenes look inside the case to overturn California's ban on same-sex marriage. Shot over five years, the film follows the unlikely team that took the first federal marriage equality lawsuit to the U.S. Supreme Court.Cesar's Last Fast / U.S.A. (Directors: Richard Ray Perez, Lorena Parlee) — Inspired by Catholic social teaching, Cesar Chavez risked his life fighting for America’s poorest workers. The film illuminates the intensity of one man’s devotion and personal sacrifice, the birth of an economic justice movement, and tells an untold chapter in the story of civil rights in America. Dinosaur 13 / U.S.A. (Director: Todd Miller) — The true tale behind one of the greatest discoveries in history. Day One film.E-TEAM / U.S.A. (Directors: Katy Chevigny, Ross Kauffman) — E-TEAM is driven by the high-stakes investigative work of four intrepid human rights workers, offering a rare look at their lives at home and their dramatic work in the field. Fed Up / U.S.A. (Director: Stephanie Soechtig) — Fed Up blows the lid off everything we thought we knew about food and weight loss, revealing a 30-year campaign by the food industry, aided by the U.S. government, to mislead and confuse the American public, resulting in one of the largest health epidemics in history. The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz / U.S.A. (Director: Brian Knappenberger) — Programming prodigy and information activist Aaron Swartz achieved groundbreaking work in social justice and political organizing. His passion for open access ensnared him in a legal nightmare that ended with the taking of his own life at the age of 26. Ivory Tower / U.S.A. (Director: Andrew Rossi) — As tuition spirals upward and student debt passes a trillion dollars, students and parents ask, "Is college worth it?" From the halls of Harvard to public and private colleges in financial crisis to education startups in Silicon Valley, an urgent portrait emerges of a great American institution at the breaking point. Marmato / U.S.A. (Director: Mark Grieco) — Colombia is the center of a new global gold rush, and Marmato, a historic mining town, is the new frontier. Filmed over the course of nearly six years, Marmato chronicles how townspeople confront a Canadian mining company that wants the $20 billion in gold beneath their homes. No No: A Dockumentary / U.S.A. (Director: Jeffrey Radice) — Dock Ellis pitched a no-hitter on LSD, then worked for decades counseling drug abusers. Dock's soulful style defined 1970s baseball as he kept hitters honest and embarrassed the establishment. An ensemble cast of teammates, friends, and family investigate his life on the field, in the media, and out of the spotlight. The Overnighters / U.S.A. (Director: Jesse Moss) — Desperate, broken men chase their dreams and run from their demons in the North Dakota oil fields. A local Pastor's decision to help them has extraordinary and unexpected consequences.Private Violence / U.S.A. (Director: Cynthia Hill) — One in four women experience violence in their homes. Have you ever asked, “Why doesn't she just leave?” Private Violence shatters the brutality of our logic and intimately reveals the stories of two women: Deanna Walters, who transforms from victim to survivor, and Kit Gruelle, who advocates for justice. Rich Hill / U.S.A. (Directors: Andrew Droz Palermo, Tracy Droz Tragos) — In a rural, American town, kids face heartbreaking choices, find comfort in the most fragile of family bonds, and dream of a future of possibility. Watchers of the Sky / U.S.A. (Director: Edet Belzberg) — Five interwoven stories of remarkable courage from Nuremberg to Rwanda, from Darfur to Syria, and from apathy to action. WORLD CINEMA DRAMATIC COMPETITION
52 Tuesdays / Australia (Director: Sophie Hyde, Screenplay and story by: Matthew Cormack, Story by: Sophie Hyde) — Sixteen-year-old Billie’s reluctant path to independence is accelerated when her mother reveals plans for gender transition, and their time together becomes limited to Tuesdays. This emotionally charged story of desire, responsibility, and transformation was filmed over the course of a year—once a week, every week, only on Tuesdays. Cast: Tilda Cobham-Hervey, Del Herbert-Jane, Imogen Archer, Mario Späte, Beau Williams, Sam Althuizen. International Premiere.Blind / Norway, Netherlands (Director and screenwriter: Eskil Vogt) — Having recently lost her sight, Ingrid retreats to the safety of her home—a place she can feel in control, alone with her husband and her thoughts. But Ingrid's real problems lie within, not beyond the walls of her apartment, and her deepest fears and repressed fantasies soon take over. Cast: Ellen Dorrit Petersen, Henrik Rafaelsen, Vera Vitali, Marius Kolbenstvedt. World Premiere.Difret / Ethiopia (Director and screenwriter: Zeresenay Berhane Mehari) — Meaza Ashenafi is a young lawyer who operates under the government's radar helping women and children until one young girl's legal case exposes everything, threatening not only her career but her survival. Cast: Meron Getnet, Tizita Hagere. World Premiere.The Disobedient / Serbia (Director and screenwriter: Mina Djukic) — Leni anxiously waits for her childhood friend Lazar, who is coming back to their hometown after years of studying abroad. After they reunite, they embark on a random bicycle trip around their childhood haunts, which will either exhaust or reinvent their relationship. Cast: Hana Selimovic, Mladen Sovilj, Minja Subota, Danijel Sike, Ivan Djordjevic. World Premiere.God Help the Girl / United Kingdom (Director and screenwriter: Stuart Murdoch) — This musical from Stuart Murdoch of Belle &amp; Sebastian is about some messed up boys and girls and the music they made. Cast: Emily Browning, Olly Alexander, Hannah Murray, Cora Bissett, Pierre Boulanger. World Premiere.Liar's Dice / India (Director and screenwriter: Geetu Mohandas) — Kamala, a young woman from the village of Chitkul, leaves her native land with her daughter to search for her missing husband. Along the journey, they encounter Nawazudin, a free-spirited army deserter with his own selfish motives who helps them reach their destination. Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Geetanjali Thapa, Manya Gupta. International Premiere.Lilting / United Kingdom (Director and screenwriter: Hong Khaou) — The world of a Chinese mother mourning the untimely death of her son is suddenly disrupted by the presence of a stranger who doesn't speak her language. Lilting is a touching and intimate film about finding the things that bring us together. Cast: Ben Whishaw, Pei-Pei Cheng, Andrew Leung, Peter Bowles, Naomi Christie, Morven Christie. World Premiere.
Lock Charmer (El cerrajero) / Argentina (Director and screenwriter: Natalia Smirnoff) — Upon learning that his girlfriend is pregnant, 33-year-old locksmith Sebastian begins to have strange visions about his clients. With the help of an unlikely assistant, he sets out to use his newfound talent for his own good. Cast: Esteban Lamothe, Erica Rivas, Yosiria Huaripata. World Premiere.To Kill a Man / Chile, France (Director and screenwriter: Alejandro Fernandez Almendras) — When Jorge, a hardworking family man who's barely making ends meet, gets mugged by Kalule, a neighborhood delinquent, Jorge's son decides to confront the attacker, only to get himself shot. Even though Jorge's son nearly dies, Kalule's sentence is minimal, heightening the friction. Cast: Daniel Candia, Daniel Antivilo, Alejandra Yañez, Ariel Mateluna. World Premiere.Viktoria / Bulgaria, Romania (Director and screenwriter: Maya Vitkova) — Although determined not to have a child in Communist Bulgaria, Boryana gives birth to Viktoria, who despite being born with no umbilical cord, is proclaimed to be the baby of the decade. But political collapse and the hardships of the new time bind mother and daughter together. Cast: Irmena Chichikova, Daria Vitkova, Kalina Vitkova, Mariana Krumova, Dimo Dimov, Georgi Spassov. World Premiere.Wetlands / Germany (Director: David Wnendt, Screenwriters: Claus Falkenberg, David Wnendt, based on the novel by Charlotte Roche) — Meet Helen Memel. She likes to experiment with vegetables while masturbating and thinks that bodily hygiene is greatly overrated. She shocks those around her by speaking her mind in a most unladylike manner on topics that many people would not even dare consider. Cast: Carla Juri, Christoph Letkowski, Meret Becker, Axel Milberg, Marlen Kruse, Edgar Selge. North American Premiere.White Shadow / Italy, Germany, Tanzania (Director: Noaz Deshe, Screenwriters: Noaz Deshe, James Masson) — Alias is a young albino boy on the run. His mother has sent him away to find refuge in the city after witnessing his father's murder. Over time, the city becomes no different than the bush: wherever Alias travels, the same rules of survival apply. Cast: Hamisi Bazili, James Gayo, Glory Mbayuwayu, Salum Abdallah. International Premiere.
WORLD CINEMA DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
20,000 Days On Earth / United Kingdom (Directors: Iain Forsyth &amp; Jane Pollard) — Drama and reality combine in a fictitious 24 hours in the life of musician and international culture icon Nick Cave. With startlingly frank insights and an intimate portrayal of the artistic process, this film examines what makes us who we are and celebrates the transformative power of the creative spirit. World Premiere.Concerning Violence / Sweden, U.S.A., Denmark, Finland (Director: Göran Hugo Olsson) — Concerning Violence is based on newly discovered, powerful archival material documenting the most daring moments in the struggle for liberation in the Third World, accompanied by classic text from The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon. World Premiere.The Green Prince / Germany, Israel, United Kingdom (Director: Nadav Schirman ) — This real-life thriller tells the story of one of Israel’s prized intelligence sources, recruited to spy on his own people for more than a decade. Focusing on the complex relationship with his handler, The Green Prince is a gripping account of terror, betrayal, and unthinkable choices, along with a friendship that defies all boundaries. World Premiere.
Happiness / France, Finland (Director: Thomas Balmès) — Peyangki is a dreamy and solitary eight-year-old monk living in Laya, a Bhutanese village perched high in the Himalayas. Soon the world will come to him: the village is about to be connected to electricity, and the first television will flicker on before Peyangki's eyes. North American Premiere.Love Child / South Korea, U.S.A. (Director: Valerie Veatch) — In Seoul in the Republic of Korea, a young couple stands accused of neglect when "Internet addiction" in an online fantasy game costs the life of their infant daughter. Love Child documents the 2010 trial and subsequent ruling that set a global precedent in a world where virtual is the new reality. World Premiere.Mr leos caraX / France (Director: Tessa Louise-Salomé) — Mr leos caraX plunges us into the poetic and visionary world of a mysterious, solitary filmmaker who was already a cult figure from his very first film. Punctuated by interviews and previously unseen footage, this documentary is most of all a fine-tuned exploration of the poetic and visionary world of Leos Carax, alias Mr. X. World Premiere.My Prairie Home / Canada (Director: Chelsea McMullan) — A poetic journey through landscapes both real and emotional, Chelsea McMullan’s documentary/musical offers an intimate portrait of transgender singer Rae Spoon, framed by stunning images of the Canadian prairies. McMullan’s imaginative visual interpretations of Spoon’s songs make this an unforgettable look at a unique Canadian artist. International Premiere.The Notorious Mr. Bout / U.S.A., Russia (Directors: Tony Gerber, Maxim Pozdorovkin) — Viktor Bout was a war profiteer, an entrepreneur, an aviation tycoon, an arms dealer, and—strangest of all—a documentary filmmaker. The Notorious Mr. Bout is the ultimate rags-to-riches-to-prison memoir, documented by the last man you'd expect to be holding the camera. World Premiere.Return to Homs / Syria, Germany (Director: Talal Derki) — Basset Sarout, the 19-year-old national football team goalkeeper, becomes a demonstration leader and singer, and then a fighter. Ossama, a 24-year-old renowned citizen cameraman, is critical, a pacifist, and ironic until he is detained by the regime's security forces. North American Premiere.SEPIDEH – Reaching for the Stars / Denmark (Director: Berit Madsen) — Sepideh wants to become an astronaut. As a young Iranian woman, she knows it’s dangerous to challenge traditions and expectations. Still, Sepideh holds on to her dream. She knows a tough battle is ahead, a battle that only seems possible to win once she seeks help from an unexpected someone. North American Premiere.We Come as Friends / France, Austria (Director: Hubert Sauper) — We Come as Friends views colonization as a human phenomenon through both explicit and metaphoric lenses without oversimplified accusations or political theorizing. Alarmingly, It is not a historical film since colonization and the slave trade still exist. World Premiere.Web Junkie / Israel (Directors: Shosh Shlam, Hilla Medalia) — China is the first country to label “Internet addiction” a clinical disorder. Web Junkie investigates a Beijing rehab center where Chinese teenagers are deprogrammed. World Premiere.
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Lions Gate via Everett Collection
When we last left our heroes, they had conquered all opponents in the 74th Annual Hunger Games, returned home to their newly refurbished living quarters in District 12, and fallen haplessly to the cannibalism of PTSD. And now we're back! Hitching our wagons once again to laconic Katniss Everdeen and her sweet-natured, just-for-the-camera boyfriend Peeta Mellark as they gear up for a second go at the Capitol's killing fields.
But hold your horses — there's a good hour and a half before we step back into the arena. However, the time spent with Katniss and Peeta before the announcement that they'll be competing again for the ceremonial Quarter Quell does not drag. In fact, it's got some of the film franchise's most interesting commentary about celebrity, reality television, and the media so far, well outweighing the merit of The Hunger Games' satire on the subject matter by having Katniss struggle with her responsibilities as Panem's idol. Does she abide by the command of status quo, delighting in the public's applause for her and keeping them complacently saturated with her smiles and curtsies? Or does Katniss hold three fingers high in opposition to the machine into which she has been thrown? It's a quarrel that the real Jennifer Lawrence would handle with a castigation of the media and a joke about sandwiches, or something... but her stakes are, admittedly, much lower. Harvey Weinstein isn't threatening to kill her secret boyfriend.
Through this chapter, Katniss also grapples with a more personal warfare: her devotion to Gale (despite her inability to commit to the idea of love) and her family, her complicated, moralistic affection for Peeta, her remorse over losing Rue, and her agonizing desire to flee the eye of the public and the Capitol. Oftentimes, Katniss' depression and guilty conscience transcends the bounds of sappy. Her soap opera scenes with a soot-covered Gale really push the limits, saved if only by the undeniable grace and charisma of star Lawrence at every step along the way of this film. So it's sappy, but never too sappy.
In fact, Catching Fire is a masterpiece of pushing limits as far as they'll extend before the point of diminishing returns. Director Francis Lawrence maintains an ambiance that lends to emotional investment but never imposes too much realism as to drip into territories of grit. All of Catching Fire lives in a dreamlike state, a stark contrast to Hunger Games' guttural, grimacing quality that robbed it of the life force Suzanne Collins pumped into her first novel.
Once we get to the thunderdome, our engines are effectively revved for the "fun part." Katniss, Peeta, and their array of allies and enemies traverse a nightmare course that seems perfectly suited for a videogame spin-off. At this point, we've spent just enough time with the secondary characters to grow a bit fond of them — deliberately obnoxious Finnick, jarringly provocative Johanna, offbeat geeks Beedee and Wiress — but not quite enough to dissolve the mystery surrounding any of them or their true intentions (which become more and more enigmatic as the film progresses). We only need adhere to Katniss and Peeta once tossed in the pit of doom that is the 75th Hunger Games arena, but finding real characters in the other tributes makes for a far more fun round of extreme manhunt.
But Catching Fire doesn't vie for anything particularly grand. It entertains and engages, having fun with and anchoring weight to its characters and circumstances, but stays within the expected confines of what a Hunger Games movie can be. It's a good one, but without shooting for succinctly interesting or surprising work with Katniss and her relationships or taking a stab at anything but the obvious in terms of sending up the militant tyrannical autocracy, it never even closes in on the possibility of being a great one.
3.5/5
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It may be the most famous scene in Western literature: Romeo’s declaration of love beneath Juliet’s balcony. So how do you stage it without words? If you stage it as a dance how do you deal with the separation of the two lovers? Sir Kenneth MacMillan provided an easy answer in his choreography for Sergei Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet. You get Juliet off that balcony and down on terra firma for a pas de deux with Romeo stat. The challenge is that the dancers’ physicality has to be as good as Shakespeare’s words.
Cory Stearns and Gillian Murphy of the American Ballet Theatre meet MacMillan’s challenge as the star-crossed title characters in a new production of Prokofiev’s ballet playing at Lincoln Center through June 15. But they’re lucky. They have the support of the spare-no-expenses American Ballet Theatre ethos. It’s resulted in another sumptuous, soaring ballet.
ABT’s Romeo and Juliet opens on the marketplace of Verona. There’s a wooden stairway, several stalls for vendors, some hay scattered about, all the little organic details the company likes to establish for complete immersion. The marketplace slowly comes alive as the baker arrives, then the blacksmith, then the fishmonger. This is a living space, perfect for MacMillan’s unfussy, down-to-earth choreographic style. He even integrates some elements of northern Italian folkdance into the traditional ballet when he has a group of wheat-toting women perform light clogging. Before you know it, the entire marketplace has erupted in violence with Montagues dueling Capulets via some fierce swordplay.
MacMillan’s democratic style meant populating his stage with a multitude of elements at once and encouraging you to scan about and perceive as many details as possible. That means any of the background peasants get as much attention as Tybalt and Mercutio. Only Romeo and Juliet themselves get the spotlight. As Romeo, Cory Stearns, who’s only been a principal at ABT for two years, is athletic and engaging. The Long Island native is more streamlined than muscular, perfect for capturing a youth in the throes of his first true passion. And Gillian Murphy, a South Carolina prodigy who’s been a principal for eleven years, is appropriately willowy and ethereal.
In bringing life to their characters, Stearns and Murphy are supported by Prokofiev’s propulsive 1935 score, conducted here by Charles Barker. The Russian modernist was a master of narrativizing music, and he’s best known today for teasing out the full drama of his works by assigning themes to each of his characters. One of his most famous pieces, Peter and the Wolf, goes so far as to designate a specific instrument for each animal in the story. Something similar happens here, with flutes corresponding to Juliet and strings to Romeo. But overall, Romeo and Juliet is one of Prokofiev’s looser compositions. In conjunction with MacMillan’s choreography it’s a ballet that exists on the opposite pole from, say, Prokofiev’s score for the film Alexander Nevsky, in which the music is perfectly synchronized with the images — a vision of determinism reflecting a time in which free will seemed unattainable in Russian society.
The one time you feel that level of control in Romeo and Juliet is, of course, the famous “Dance of the Knights,” a brooding, violent piece in which the Montagues and Capulets march with militaristic menace. MacMillan places the two camps in strictly regimented formation as if the Montagues and Capulets are extras in Triumph of the Will. It’s easy to imagine that Prokofiev, living at the height of Stalin’s “show trials” and with the Nazis about ready to march across Europe, might have likened the Montagues and Capulets’ culture of violence to ‘30s fascism. Not traditional romantic music, Prokofiev’s composition seems to underline the lovers’ break from tradition more than their sensual longing. It shows that Romeo and Juliet truly is timeless, because it can be so easily modified to fit the priorities of the time in which it’s retold.
Follow Christian Blauvelt on Twitter @Ctblauvelt | Follow Hollywood.com on Twitter @Hollywood_com

50 years ago, on March 22, 1963, The Beatles released their first album, Please Please Me, kicking off arguably the greatest recording career in rock &amp; roll history. In just seven years, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr released over 200 songs, covering every genre and style you could possibly imagine. Their creative and intellectual growth during this time seems so accelerated that it's almost superhuman. If you played every one of their songs in one epic marathon listening session, it'd only take about 11 hours to hear everything they ever put on vinyl. But of those recordings, The Beatles musical batting average is unparalleled. That's why, on the occasion of Please Please Me's 50th anniversary, we've put together a ranked list of their 50 greatest songs. For how many other bands could you even attempt such a thing, let alone have affection for every single song on the list? Here are our picks.
50. “Octopus’ Garden,” Abbey Road (1969) Ringo Starr’s second songwriting venture for The Beatles, after The White Album’s country barnburner “Don’t Pass Me By,” is a briny odyssey to the bottom of the sea — complete with bubble sound effects! — that’s like an even trippier follow-up to “Yellow Submarine.” (500) Days of Summer fans will remember that Zooey Deschanel’s title character considered this her favorite Beatles song. We like it too, but we also think the Fab Four recorded 49 better ones.
49. “One After 909,” Let It Be (1970) Appearing on the group’s last LP, Lennon and McCartney’s rockabilly ode to boxcar travel feels like something that could have been originally recorded by Chuck Berry or Carl Perkins. That’s because it was among the very first songs the duo ever wrote, going as far back as 1957, when the Liverpool lads were in their teens and rock &amp; roll was in its infancy.
48. “Money (That’s What I Want),” With The Beatles (1963) Because they produced such a vast repertoire of original material, sometimes the Beatles don’t get enough credit for their covers. Their take on the first hit ever released by Motown (and co-written by Motown founder Berry Gordy) is a blues’d-out celebration of materialism with a snaking honky-tonk piano: the perfect mission statement for four working class lads trying to make it.
47. “I Saw Her Standing There,” Please Please Me (1963) The Beatles’ first album was basically just a recording of the live act they’d play at nightclubs in Germany and the U.K. in the early ‘60s. Of all their early work, “I Saw Her Standing There,” the best Jerry Lee Lewis record Jerry Lee Lewis never made, is the most lustful of the bunch: “She was just seventeen / You know what I mean…”
46. “Yesterday,” Help! (1965) Not Paul McCartney’s first art-song experiment nor his best, “Yesterday” is unique in being pretty much his solo project. None of the other Beatles recorded with him on the track and most of the instrumentals are supplied by a symphonic string section.
45. “Eleanor Rigby,” Revolver (1966) McCartney kept the strings from “Yesterday,” only he had them drive the melody and play far more aggressively on his character study of loneliness and heartbreak. At that point “Eleanor Rigby” was among the most daring efforts of The Beatles in writing a non-love song.
44. “Tomorrow Never Knows,” Revolver (1966) Lennon saw McCartney’s challenge on “Eleanor Rigby” and raised him “Tomorrow Never Knows,” a lysergic reverie inspired by The Tibetan Book of the Dead, featuring tape loops and recordings played backward, including Macca’s spiky guitar riff on ‘Taxman.” No wonder Don Draper hated it.
43. “The Fool on the Hill,” Magical Mystery Tour (1967) Bristling at some of the negative press the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was receiving at the time, McCartney wrote this dreamy ode to faith, and the subtle divide between wisdom and idiocy. But let’s face it. It’s the flute solo that makes “The Fool on the Hill.”
42. “Nowhere Man,” Rubber Soul (1965) Even better than “Eleanor Rigby” as a non-love song about feeling unmoored and lonely, “Nowhere Man” was semi-autobiographical for Lennon, whose first marriage was foundering due to the Beatles’ incessant tour schedule. But even if it’s about discord, the foursome’s vocal harmonies were rarely better.
41. “Don’t Let Me Down,” Standalone Single (1969) Lennon wrote “Don’t Let Me Down” as a plea to Yoko Ono. Despite its incessant, chant-like recitation of the title — hinting at the primal scream soundscapes of John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band — it’s Lennon at his absolute most vulnerable.
NEXT: 40-31, including the song that caused The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson to lose his mind
40. “Think For Yourself,” Rubber Soul (1965) George Harrison’s first great song owes more than a little to The Rolling Stones’ “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” especially the fuzzbox reverberation added to McCartney’s scorching bassline.
39. “Here, There, and Everywhere,” Revolver (1966) McCartney brought a lullaby sweetness to Revolver, especially on “For No One” and “Here, There, and Everwhere.” The latter must feature the most beautiful Beatles harmonies ever. Despite having had virtually no relationship with McCartney for years, and having strongly criticized much of his former songwriting partner’s other work, Lennon told Playboy in 1980 that he still considered “Here, There, and Everywhere” among the Beatles’ very finest achievements.
38. “Rocky Raccoon,” The White Album (1968) A folk-rock ballad about an Old West love triangle, complete with tinny saloon piano, “Rocky Raccoon” was actually written by Paul McCartney in India, during the Beatles’ stay at Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s spiritual retreat. Maybe the longing for the West implied in the song explains why McCartney left the Maharishi after only two weeks.
37. “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” Standalone Single (1963) They were the hand-claps heard 'round the world. Released a week to the day after JFK’s assassination, “I Want to Hold Your Hand” was — and is — a celebration of life, innocence and discovery capable of holding the darkness at bay. Its decidedly juvenile, bubblegum tone was, however, mocked in Thomas Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49 when a shallow rock band called The Paranoids record the song “I Want To Kiss Your Feet.”
36. “Yellow Submarine,” Revolver (1966) A frothy, foamy novelty to be sure, but “Yellow Submarine” shows how willing the Beatles were to experiment with studio artistry after years of numbing world tours. Though great for a singalong, “Yellow Submarine” would mean very little performed live since so much of its narrative depends on studio-derived sound effects and vocal manipulation. The song itself was basically a mini-movie for the ears well before Apple Records decided to make a movie of “Yellow Submarine” for real.
35. “Don’t Pass Me By,” The White Album (1968) Ringo Starr’s first solo composition is arguably one of the best country songs of the ‘60s, a toe-tappin’, linedance-ready extravaganza that’d fit in at the Grand Ol’ Opry.
34. “Norwegian Wood,” Rubber Soul (1965) George Harrison first fired up his sitar for John Lennon’s existential love song, beginning a lifelong love affair with the instrument that would result in him partnering with Ravi Shankar and exploring the subtleties of Indian mysticism. Lennon achieved a new level of songwriting, with lyrics to “Norwegian Wood” of stunning poetic depth and emotional maturity, like “I once had a girl / Or should I say, she once had me?”
33. “Strawberry Fields Forever,” Magical Mystery Tour (1967) The Beatles’ psychedelic period kicked off with a bang in February 1967, with the release of “Strawberry Fields Forever” as a standalone single paired with McCartney’s “Penny Lane.” Both songs reflect nostalgia on the part of their makers for their early, pre-fame days in Liverpool, but of the two it’s “Strawberry Fields Forever” that really sticks with you. It kicked off the Beatles’ habit of including sonic Easter Eggs in their recordings—just when you think it’s ended, it starts up again! It was so good that it unhinged Lennon’s greatest rival across the pond, Brian Wilson, who, after hearing “Strawberry Fields Forever,” declared that the Beatles “had gotten there first” and subsequently abandoned The Beach Boys' magnum opus SMiLE for almost 40 years.
32. “Girl,” Rubber Soul (1965) You know a song is good when its makers fight about who wrote what in it. McCartney has taken credit for writing lines in “Girl” like "Was she told when she was young that pain would lead to pleasure" and "That a man must break his back to earn his day of leisure." But Lennon also said that he wrote those lines as a critique of Christian doctrine. With guitars played like ukuleles and mandolins, giving the track more than a whiff of a Greek folk dance, “Girl” is so good, who cares who wrote what?
31. “Ticket to Ride,” Help! (1965) A great transitional song that combines the Beatles’ taut pop focus with hints at the philosophical musings to come, “Ticket to Ride” is the single best track on Help! It was also famously covered by The Carpenters, who lent it extra shades of pre-Goth melancholy.
NEXT: 30-21, John Lennon visits the stars, Paul McCartney invents heavy metal
30. “If I Needed Someone,” Rubber Soul (1965) A guitar jam, an exercise in multi-part harmonies, and a kind of individualistic statement by its author, George Harrison, “If I Needed Someone” is the opposite of “Nowhere Man” and “Eleanor Rigby.” Where Lennon and McCartney elaborated on loneliness and the need for human connection, Harrison, already something of a mystic, argues for the completeness of the self.
29. “You Really Got a Hold On Me,” With the Beatles (1963) John Lennon contorts his vocal cords like never before — or after — with his take on Smokey Robinson’s R&amp;B ballad, hitting falsetto notes and nailing runs with agonizing emotion.
28. “Hey Jude,” Standalone Single (1968) It’s funny that the Beatles had stopped touring by the time “Hey Jude” was released, because the seven minute epic pretty much invented the concept of arena rock. It’s a song of such, um, singability — especially when it comes to those na-na-na-nahs — that you need to be in a stadium with thousands of others singing along to appreciate it best. Hence why it’s Paul McCartney’s go-to jam for any and all live performances he may give.
27. “Hello, Goodbye,” Magical Mystery Tour (1967) A song of such binary simplicity — “You say ‘yes,’ I say ‘no’ / You say ‘stop,’ and I say ‘go, go, go!’” — that it could have been written directly for Sesame Street. Which is exactly why it’s so great.
26. “Dig a Pony,” Let It Be (1970) Lennon called this bluesy exploration of his lust for Yoko Ono “a piece of garbage.” It’s fierce and hormonal, full of burnt-out longing and an unsettling urge toward instant gratification.
25. “With a Little Help From My Friends,” Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) Billy Shears (Ringo Starr’s Sgt. Pepper alter ego) lends his melancholy pipes to what is either the saddest song about friendship ever written or the most joyful celebration of co-dependency. The song is somehow all vulnerability — and all bravado — right from the opening line: “What would you do if I sang out of tune / Would you get up and walk out on me?” Is Billy expressing a fear or a hope?
24. “And Your Bird Can Sing,” Revolver (1966) The Daily Mail’s Richard Simpson alleged that John Lennon wrote “And Your Bird Can Sing” as affirmation of Mick Jagger’s claim that his girlfriend (in Brit-speak, bird), pop singer Marianne Faithfull, could really sing.
23. “Helter Skelter,” The White Album (1968) Yeah, so Paul McCartney pretty much invented heavy metal in one song. All in a day’s work… even if you end up with blisters on your fingers and inspire the mantra of the Manson Family.
22. “Let It Be,” Let It Be (1970) It’s one of the age-old questions of rock history: why does “Let It Be” work so beautifully while “The Long and Winding Road” falls flat? The simple answer is that the former was produced by Beatles studio god George Martin, the latter by Phil Spector. The real reason is that McCartney kept his cloying sentiment in check on one and gave it free rein on the other.
21. “Across the Universe,” Let It Be (1970) John Lennon’s love of vocal reverb was at its full flower on “Across the Universe,” which pretty much stands as a solo track. Sweet without being saccharine, it’s the ultimate expression of his cosmic musings.
NEXT: 20-11, the most joyful handclaps you’ll ever hear. Plus, John Lennon misreads Lewis Carroll.
20. “Please Mister Postman,” With the Beatles (1963) Okay, the handclaps on “I Want To Hold Your Hand” are great, but nothing — absolutely nothing — will prepare you for the pure joy that emanates from the handclaps that open this Motown cover. Originally written for girl group The Marvelettes, the Beatles reversed the gender of the song’s pronouns and showed that guys can be every bit as romantic as their girlfriends… when they want to be.
19. “I Want You (She’s So Heavy),” Abbey Road (1969) Embrace the heaviosity. At seven minutes, forty-seven seconds the second-longest Beatles recording ever after the experimental “Revolution 9,” “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” shows that when they recognized a really thumping, infectious groove, they could put all of their lyrical ambitions aside and just live for the beat. The whole song is pretty much just the lyric “I want you / I want you so bad” repeated ad infinitum, but with George’s fuzzy electric guitar, Paul’s slithering bass and John playing a Moog synthesizer, this blues explosion makes us anything but.
18. “Taxman,” Revolver (1966) George Harrison did not appreciate paying the exorbitant taxes to Her Majesty that Brits of his mega-wealthy bracket had to pony up in the ‘60s. Hence this blistering screed. Always remember, those of you who’ve died, declare the pennies on your eyes.
17. “Fixing a Hole,” Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) Of course we love “When I’m 64,” but when it comes to “northern songs,” the kind of ditties you’d hear in a Liverpool pub, nothing beats “Fixing a Hole.”
16. “Something,” Abbey Road (1969) George Harrison wrote of sex and spirituality in the same breath like no other. But with “Something,” he went even deeper. Frank Sinatra called it “the best love song in 30 years,” though when he’d cover it during his own concerts he credited it to Lennon &amp; McCartney, until a fan finally corrected him.
15. “Back in the USSR,” The White Album (1968) Simultaneously a tribute to The Beach Boys and Chuck Berry (who influenced The Beach Boys and also, profoundly, The Beatles) McCartney’s opening cut on The White Album is pure rock &amp; roll, culminating in a russkie version of “California Girls” in the immortal lyrics “Well, the Ukraine girls really knock me out / They leave the West behind / And Moscow girls make me sing and shout / That Georgia’s always on my my my my my my my my my mind.”
14. “I Me Mine,” Let It Be (1970) Harrison’s rant against ego also marked his most ambitious foray into the Phil Spector “Wall of Sound” style, which he’d later perfect on his first solo album, All Things Must Pass, with that immortal kiss-off to his ex-wife “What Is Life.”
13. “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite,” Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) Exhibit A for what is psychedelia. Inspired by an 1843 circus poster, Lennon created a Victorian trifle that’s one part music-hall singalong, one-part carnival barker’s pitch, all parts genius.
12. “She Loves You,” Standalone Single (1963) What was different about The Beatles? What separated them from the rock &amp; rollers who came before them? If you had to pin it down to one thing, it’d have to be energy. And nothing they ever wrote was as energetic, as full of the possibilities of being alive, as “She Loves You.”
11. “I Am the Walrus,” Magical Mystery Tour (1967) After he learned that students at his old school in Liverpool were being made to analyze his song lyrics in English classes, Lennon decided to write a song with absolutely no meaning that would totally baffle anyone who attempted to dissect it. So he turned to Lewis Carroll and the poem “The Walrus &amp; the Carpenter” from Through the Looking Glass for inspiration. However, John failed to realize that the Walrus is actually the villain of the piece when he’d emphatically state that’s who he was, a mistake he later realized. But, hey, “I Am the Carpenter” just wouldn’t have had the same effect. The sonic collage at the end is like the aural equivalent of the Sgt. Pepper’s album cover.
NEXT: 10-1, What topped our list?
10. “Yer Blues,” The White Album (1968) John Lennon wrote one of the greatest blues songs ever while in India when he was “trying to reach God and feeling suicidal.” If the blues are fundamentally about sin, guilt, and the suffering of the flesh, “Yer Blues” has all three in terrifying abundance.
9. “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) Mixing radio-drama sound effects, symphonic instrumentation, blaring fanfare, and hard-rock vocals, the opening track is just the prologue to the greatest concert that never happened by a band that never existed.
8. “This Boy,” Standalone Single (1963) The B-Side to “I Want To Hold Your Hand” is so endearing because of how deliberately it wasn’t trying to break with the past. Lennon said he was trying to write a song in the style of Smokey Robinson with “This Boy,” but it really goes back even further, to ‘50s doo-wop like The Five Satins’ “In the Still of the Night.”
7. “All My Loving,” With the Beatles (1963) Producer George Martin’s classical training really shines through on the Dorian-scaled “All My Loving,” a song that in its symmetrical rises and falls has almost a mathematical perfection. No wonder he actually did give it the symphonic treatment by having a full orchestra play “All My Loving” for the Magical Mystery Tour movie.
6. “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) The imagery of Lennon’s lyrics alone are wondrous: tangerine trees, marmalade skies, plasticine porters, looking-glass ties, kaleidoscope eyes. It’s like The Twilight Zone gone Technicolor. Never mind the technical wonders of the electric piano, the fuzzed-out bass, the reverb effect on Lennon’s voice. Its images are indelible, its sounds even more so, and yet “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” isn’t just a trip of sight and sound but also of mind.
5. “A Day In the Life,” Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) What can be said about “A Day In the Life” that hasn’t already been said? Nothing. Maybe “Nothing” is the only appropriate response. Its literary ambition, technical innovations, and narrative arc are practically more than the mind can fathom. And that final chord, achieved by three grand pianos being played at once? Well, if Bruce Springsteen thought the opening of Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” was “the snare-shot that kicked open the door to your mind,” as far as we’re concerned the final chord of “A Day in the Life” blows that door right off its hinges.
4. “All You Need Is Love,” Magical Mystery Tour (1967) The Summer of Love came to a whalloping close with the release of “All You Need Is Love” as a standalone single just a couple months after the release of Sgt. Pepper’s. It utilizes a similar sonic collage technique to that at the end of “I Am the Walrus,” recorded around the same time, but goes further, mixing in fragments of “Greensleaves” and even “She Loves You.” It’s arguably the most optimistic song ever recorded...
3. “Eight Days a Week,” Beatles for Sale (1964) …Except for maybe “Eight Days a Week,” Lennon’s earlier articulation of the “All You Need Is Love” theme. This song slowly fades in and it’s like it’s already been playing in your mind even before you’ve started to listen to it for real. And when it fades out, it’s like it dissolves into your brain, never to be rooted out.
2. “And I Love Her,” A Hard Day’s Night (1964) The finest hour (or, rather, three minutes) of Paul McCartney’s storied career is as cool as an island breeze. Ringo’s on bongos and George adds a little broken-chord guitar punctuation. It's one of the most beautiful things ever created by humans.
1. “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” The White Album (1968) It’s with a twinge of guilt that George Harrison’s guitar classic tops our list. That’s because the Fab Four became the Fab Five on “While Our Guitar Gently Weeps,” with the addition of Eric Clapton, one of a handful of people on the planet who could actually match Harrison’s ax skills, to add a little more six-string spice. Clapton worked his magic, delivering a guitar solo of a virtuosity unseen elsewhere in the Beatles’ oeuvre, then stole Harrison’s wife. It’s not the behind-the-scenes heartbreak that causes anyone to weep, though, when listening to this song: it’s the startling, transcendental beauty of it, with its intricate double-tracked harmonies and the koen-like simplicity of its lyrics. Its beauty is so great, “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” makes you aware of your own mortality while you’re listening to it: the realization that there is only a finite number of days you will spend on this orb, a finite number of people you will love, a finite number of times you can listen to “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” But it sure is sweet while it lasts.
Follow Christian Blauvelt on Twitter @Ctblauvelt
[Photo Credit: ITV/Rex/Rex USA, AP Photo, Everett Collection, David Magnus/Rex USA, Daily Sketch/Rex USA]
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Silent Hill: Revelation 3D has a lot of things working against it from the get go. It's based on a video game franchise that debuted in 1999 has been milked for sequels ever since (the current total of Silent Hill games is nine) and the movie itself is a sequel to the disappointingly dumb 2006 film directed by Christophe Gans. What's more the bitter aftertaste of Resident Evil: Retribution is still lingering in the mouths of survival horror movie/gamers and although they have entirely different plots and take place in totally different universes that's not necessarily enough to take the edge off for weary viewers.
It would take a dazzling director with a stellar cast and a first-rate script to overcome those sorts of obstacles and Silent Hill doesn't have any of those things. Writer/director Michael J. Bassett is obviously fond of both video games and horror (his previous movies include Solomon Kane and Deathwatch) the cast is decent with some exceptions and the script… well it's better than Resident Evil. If anything we can give Bassett credit for his enthusiasm. You really can't win when you try and make a video game movie no matter how many hours you spent playing Doom as a teen. Whether that's at the hands of the studios or the creative teams themselves isn't clear; it's simply a nut that hasn't been cracked yet.
The good news is that you don't really need a grasp on the video game or previous movie's narrative to follow the Revelation's plot. Harry (Sean Bean) has been lying to his daughter Heather (Adelaide Clemens) for a very long time. He's convinced her that her dreams about a terrible place called Silent Hill are the longstanding effects of a car crash that killed her mother and that they have to move around and take on new identities all the time because he killed a prowler in self-defense. Heather has other problems like the occasional hallucinations about a terrible alternate universe that's populated by monsters and industrial junk and flickering lights. One minute she'll be doing something normal and then suddenly the walls are burning down to the rafters and something with a butt for a face is shambling towards her. It's a raw deal.
Heather's first day at her new school is not that great; she meets a cute guy named Vincent (Kit Harington) who wants to be buddies but she makes it clear she's pretty bad ass and not one to pal around since she'll just be leaving town again anyway. When she comes home from school her dad has disappeared and the living room is a huge mess. If she wasn't clear on what to do next someone used his blood to write "COME TO SILENT HILL" on the wall with a funky sigil next to it which matches this weird object she's had since she was little. Luckily Vincent has a car and more than a few troubling secrets of his own underneath those glossy brown curls. He offers to drive her and off they go. Typical chitchat between them is about the nature of reality and dreams and Vincent's batty grandfather who's locked up in an insane asylum.
This is where things get really convoluted. Silent Hill is indeed a terrible place where ash falls from the sky during the day and horrible things come out to menace any townsperson dumb enough to be out at night. It's an eerie world that comes close to the truly terrifying Silent Hill games on occasion. After a while though it's mostly just Heather and occasionally Vincent running around in what seems like mazes of rusty bloody walls with the occasional gruesome monster popping out to halfheartedly menace them.
There's a dash of The Wicker Man here with the requisite creepy sacrificial cult and some Hellraiser-esque torture thrown in but it stops short of being a full-blown Clive Barker nightmare. There is some gore and disturbing images but the choice to use practical effects for almost all of the monsters is far more impressive in theory. Those monsters look okay from afar but rubbery up close whereas the only CGI monster is an impressive spidery thing made up of doll parts. The use of strobe lights and other effects is absolutely maddening especially in conjunction with the 3D which is mostly used for cheap gimmicks like splashing blood at the viewer.
There's something oddly satisfying about the way that the movie follows the trajectory of a video game; it's even laid out like a video game universe with different goals and bosses at each location. The problem is that what is believable or acceptable in a video game doesn't necessarily translate to a movie — in a game you're busy solving puzzles and killing monsters and it's easier to overlook kitchen-sink plots. Even though the movie doesn't completely hew to the game's story it's got the same mentality that more is better when it's really just more. And the more that's piled on the more ridiculous it gets. When everything is at a fever pitch that kind of weirdness becomes a baseline and nothing is shocking. Unlike in the games there's just one ending no matter how you play it.

Every day it seems like Amanda Bynes is making headlines for another incident where she has gotten in trouble with the law while driving her car. The 26-year-old actress has already had her license revoked and is also battling charges of DUI and two hit-and-runs in court. But despite the charges and a judge's warning to not get behind the wheel, Bynes tells People in a new interview that she is doing "amazing." She also claims that she doesn't drink and get behind the wheel.
"I am doing amazing," Bynes says. "I am retired as an actor. I am moving to New York to launch my career. I am going to do a fashion line," added Bynes, who was polite, respectful and upbeat on the phone. "I am not talking about being arrested for DUI because I don't drink, and I don't drink and drive. It is all false."
But people around Bynes don't agree that the star is okay. "People around Amanda are really concerned about her," a source tells People. "She tells people she doesn't party or drink. She doesn't realize she has a problem."
Last week, Bynes was reprimanded by a judge and told to hand over her keys and stay off the road. Bynes' attorney Richard Hutton appeared in court again Wednesday on behalf of the actress. According to TMZ, during this hearing, the District Attorney's Office requested a $50,000 bail be set on Bynes for her DUI that allegedly took place in April — but the judge denied the request. Still, if Bynes breaks any more of her driving rules, then a very high bail amount will be set.
Follow Lindsey on Twitter @LDiMat.
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While not as mainstream or easily accessible as the Hollywood film scene and its awards show The Oscars, The Tonys, the entertainment industry's annual celebration of all things Broadway, may be just as important as its big screen counterpart. Maybe even more so — a Tony win can lead to recognition in puts the spotlight on a show, actor or creative behind-the-scenes contributor. Suddenly, their theatrical endeavor is mainstream, and so is everything they do after. The Tonys is a career making show — the Academy Awards can't always say the same.
Tonight's show could kickstart a number of careers. Find out who the winners are by keeping up with this page all night! The Tonys begin tonight, June 10, at 8 EST on CBS. The winners appear in bold:
Best Play
Claybourne Park
Other Desert Cities
Peter and the Starcatcher
Venus in Fur
Best Musical
Leap of Faith
Newsies
Nice Work If You Can Get It
Once
Best Book of a Musical
Lysistra Jones, Douglas Carter Beane
Newsies, Harvey Fierstein
Nice Work If You Can Get It, Joe DiPietro
Once, Enda Walsh
Best Original Score
Bonnie &amp; Clyde, Music: Frank Wildhorn, Lyrics: Don Black
Newsies, Music: Alan Menken, Lyrics: Jack Feldman
One Man, Two Guvnors, Music &amp; Lyrics: Grant Olding
Peter and the Starcatcher, Music: Wayne Barker, Lyrics: Rick Elice
Best Revival of a Play
Death of a Salesman
Gore Vidal's The Best Man
Master Class
Wit
Best Revival of a Musical
Evita
Follies
The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess
Jesus Christ Superstar
Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Play
James Corden, One Man, Two Guvnors
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Death of a Salesman
James Earl Jones, Gore Vidal's The Best Man
Frank Langella, Man and Boy
John Lithgow, The Columnist
Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Play
Nina Arianda, Venus in Fur
Trcie Bennett, End of the Rainbow
Stockard Channing, Other Desert Cities
Linda Lavin, The Lyons
Cynthia Nixon, Wit
Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical
Danny Burstein, Follies
Jeremy Jordan, Newsies
Steve Kazee, Once
Norm Lewis, The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess
Rob Raines, Follies
Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
Jam Maxwell, Follies
Audra McDonald, The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess
Cristin MIlloti, Once
Kelli O'Hara, Nice Work If You Can Get It
Laura Osnes Bonnie &amp; Clyde
Best Actor in a Featured Role in a Play
Tom Edden, One Man, Two Guvnors
Christian Borle, Peter and the Starcatcher
Michael Cumpsty, End of the Rainbow
Andrew Garfield, Death of a Salesman
Jeremy Shamos, Clybourne Park
Best Actress in a Featured Role in a Play
Spencer Kayden, Don't Dress for Dinner
Celia Keenan-Bolger, Peter and the Starcatcher
Judith Light, Other Desert Cities
Linda Emond, Death of a Salesman
Condola Rashad, Stick Fly
Best Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical
Phillip Boykin, em>The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess
Michael Cerveris, Evita
Michael McGrath, Nice Work If You Can Get It
David Alan Grier, The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess
Josh Young Jesus Christ Superstar
Best Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical
Jayne Houdyshell, Follies
Jessie Mueller, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever
Elizabeth A. Davis, Once
Judy Kaye, Nice Work If You Can Get It
Da'Vine Joy Randoplh Ghost the Musical
Best Direction of a Play
Nicholas Hytner, One Man, Two Guvnors
Mike Nichols, Death of a Salesman
Pam MacKinnon, Clybourne Park
Roger Rees and Alex Timbers, Peter and the Starcatcher
Best Direction of a Musical
Diane Paulus, The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess
Jeff Calhoun, Newsies
Kathleen Marshall, Nice Work If You Can Get It
John Tiffany, Once
Best Choreography
Rob Ashford, Evita
Christopher Gattelli, Newsies
Kathleen Marshall, Nice Work If You Can Get It
Steven Hoggett, Once
Best Orchestrations
William David Brohn and Christopher Jahnke, The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess
Danny Troob, Newsies
Bill Elliot, Nice Work If You Can Get It
Martin Lowe, Once
Best Scenic Design of a Play
Daniel Ostling, Claybourne Park
John lee Beatty, Other Desert Cities
Donyale Werle, Peter and the Starcatcher
Mark Thompson, One Man, Two Guvnors
Best Scenic Design of a Musical
Rob Howell and Jon Driscoll, Ghost the Musical
Tobin Ost and Sven Ortel, Newsies
George Tsypin, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
Bob Crowley, Once
Best Costume Design of a Play
Paul Tazewell, A Streetcar Named Desire
Don't Dress for Dinner, William Ivey Long
Paloma Young, Peter and the Starcatcher
Mark Thompson, One Man, Two Guvnors
Best Costume Design of a Musical
ESosa, The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess
Gregg Barnes, Follies
Eiko Ishioka, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
Martin Pakledinaz, Nice Work If You Can Get It
Best Lighting Design of a Play
Peter Kaczorowski, The Road to Mecca
Kenneth Posner, Other Desert Cities
Jeff Croiter, Peter and the Starcatcher
Brian MacDevitt, Death of a Salesman
Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Christopher Akerlind, The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess
Natasha Katz, Follies
Natasha Katz, Once
Hugh Vanstone, Ghost the Musical
Best Sound Design of a Play
Paul Arditti, One Man, Two Guvnors
Gareth Owen, End of the Rainbow
Darron L. West, Peter and the Starcatcher
Scott Lehrer, Death of a Salesman
Best Sound Design of a Musical
Acme Sound Partners, The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess
Kai Harada, Follies
Clive Goodwin, Once
Brian Ronan, Nice Work If You Can Get It
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'Once', Philip Seymour Hoffman, Andrew Garfield Earn 2012 Tony Nods
'Once' the Musical: Can an Indie Hit Make a Broadway Smash?

The popular show has garnered nods across the board including the coveted Best Musical category at the 66th annual prizegiving, which honours the best on Broadway.
Once will go up against Leap of Faith, Newsies and Nice Work If You Can Get It for the top prize.
Meanwhile Clybourne Park, Other Desert Cities, Peter and the Starcatcher and Venus in Fur will all compete for the Best Play accolade.
Hollywood star Phillip Seymour Hoffman is nominated in the Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play category for his part in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman and he'll go head-to-head with John Lithgow (The Columnist), Frank Langella (Man and Boy), James Earl Jones (Gore Vidal's The Best Man) and James Corden (One Man, Two Guvnors) for the honour.
Sex and the City's Cynthia Nixon is up for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play title for her turn in Wit but she'll face stiff competition from Nina Arianda (Venus in Fur), Tracie Bennett (End of the Rainbow), Stockard Channing (Other Desert Cities) and Linda Lavin (The Lyons).
Also landing mentions were new Spider-Man star Andrew Garfield for his feature role in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman and David Alan Grier for his part in The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess.
The winners will be unveiled at the prizegiving ceremony, hosted by funnyman Neil Patrick Harris, on 10 June (12) at The Beacon Theatre in New York City.
The main list of nominees is as follows:
Best Play:
Clybourne Park
Other Desert Cities
Peter and the Starcatcher
Venus in Fur
Best Musical:
Leap of Faith
Newsies
Nice Work If You Can Get It
Once
Best Book of a Musical:
Lysistrata Jones - Douglas Carter Beane
Newsies - Harvey Fierstein
Nice Work if You Can Get It - Joe Dipietro
Once - Enda Walsh
Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre:
Bonnie &amp; Clyde - Frank Wildhorn and Don Black
Newsies - Alan Menken and Jack Feldman
One Man, Two Guvnors - Grant Olding
Peter and the Starcatcher - Wayne Barker and Rick Elice
Best Revival of a Play:
Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman
Gore Vidal's The Best Man
Master Class
Wit
Best Revival of a Musical:
Evita
Follies
The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess
Jesus Christ Superstar
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play:
James Corden - One Man, Two Guvnors
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman
James Earl Jones - Gore Vidal's The Best Man
Frank Langella - Man and Boy
John Lithgow - The Columnist
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play:
Nina Arianda - Venus in Fur
Tracie Bennett - End of the Rainbow
Stockard Channing - Other Desert Cities
Linda Lavin - The Lyons
Cynthia Nixon - Wit
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical:
Danny Burstein - Follies
Jeremy Jordan - Newsies
Steve Kazee - Once
Norm Lewis - The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess
Ron Raines - Follies
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical:
Jan Maxwell - Follies
Audra McDonald - The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess
Cristin Milioti - Once
Kelli O'Hara - Nice Work If You Can Get It
Laura Osnes - Bonnie &amp; Clyde
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play:
Christian Borle - Peter and the Starcatcher
Michael Cumpsty - End of the Rainbow
Tom Edden - One Man, Two Guvnors
Andrew Garfield - Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman
Jeremy Shamos - Clybourne Park
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play:
Linda Emond - Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman
Spencer Kayden - Don't Dress for Dinner
Celia Keenan-Bolger - Peter and the Starcatcher
Judith Light - Other Desert Cities
Condola Rashad - Stick Fly
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical:
Phillip Boykin - The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess
Michael Cerveris - Evita
David Alan Grier -The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess
Michael McGrath - Nice Work If You Can Get It
Josh Young - Jesus Christ Superstar
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical:
Elizabeth A. Davis - Once
Jayne Houdyshell - Follies
Judy Kaye - Nice Work if You Can Get It
Jessie Mueller - On a Clear Day You Can See Forever
Da'Vine Joy Randolph - Ghost the Musical
Best Direction of a Play:
One Man, Two Guvnors - Nicholas Hytner
Clybourne Park - Pam MacKinnon
Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman - Mike Nichols
Peter and the Starcatcher - Roger Rees and Alex Timbers
Best Direction of a Musical:
Newsies - Jeff Calhoun
Nice Work If You Can Get It - Kathleen Marshall
The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess - Diane Paulus
Once - John Tiffany
Best Choreography:
Evita - Rob Ashford
Newsies - Christopher Gattelli
Once - Steven Hoggett
Nice Work If You Can Get It - Kathleen Marshall
Best Orchestrations:
The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess - William David Brohn and Christopher Jahnke
Nice Work If You Can Get It - Bill Elliott
Once - Martin Lowe
Newsies - Danny Troob.

I am not the smartest person alive, just ask my teachers, girlfriend, parents, brother, friends or basically anyone who has had more than one conversation with me. But I do know a few things and one is that you don’t put the entire plot of a movie in its trailer! You have to give enough information to gain an audience's interest but leave just enough out to surprise said audience when they pay $12 to see the film. And yes, this includes kid’s movies.
This new Gulliver’s Travels trailer does just that. It gives us roughly 7 of the 8 major plot points that typical movies contain. I would give that a percentage, but math isn’t my strong suit (again, not the smartest guy in the room). Let’s go through them shall we?
1. Establish - Jack Black is a wanna be writer in New York!
2. Set up - Gets sent on an assignment, ship wrecks on an island
3. Complications - Dealing with the little people
4. Reframing - Becomes a hero to the Lilliputins
5. New Complications - They figure out who he really is
6. Downward spiral - The robot beats him up! He has a talk with the pretty lady (Emily Blunt!) who cheers him up!
7. On the offense - Goes to war against the ships!
....
8. The return - Does he make it back? Will he ever become a writer? Have the little people taught him something in return? Will anyone believe him?
(9. - Profit!)
And if you're interested in learning more about the process of storytelling, check out Scott Myer's awesome blog Go Into The Story.
So you see, I basically just saved you ten bucks and two hours of your time. I guarantee you he comes back with a wild and fantastical story and becomes a great writer. They should've adapted the Jonathan Swift book where they eat the babies. Anyway, check out the trailer below and try to laugh. We dare you.
Source: MovieFone

Guys, clearly, we need more shows that pander to stereotypical female fantasies. There simply aren’t enough women on television marrying millionaires, planning lavish weddings, crying over wedding dresses, getting extreme makeovers and tearing each other’s hair out in cut-throat competitions – oh wait, I just described most of the programming on Bravo, TLC and Oxygen. Despite a plethora of shows that have already tapped into this saturated market, E! has decided that they’re going for the gold, combining all the elements of female vanity into one neat little package. Enter Bridoplasty, the newest addition to the E! family.
In case you plan on giving the network the benefit of the doubt, don’t. The new show is exactly what it sounds like, brides-to-be compete in wedding-themed challenges (planning the perfect honeymoon, writing the perfect vows, blah, blah, blah) to win plastic surgery procedures from their “wish lists.” But just wait, there’s more.
The gaggle of gals will cat-fight each week for a new procedure, allowing some of them to work through their wish lists in hopes of reaching the ultimate goal: becoming “the perfect bride.” Okay, okay. Part of being the perfect bride includes winning a dream wedding – a totally acceptable goal - but it also includes keeping the winner’s husband-to-be in the dark right up until the I-dos. (Because, I mean, what kind of dream-wedding-makeover-reality-competition would it be without a big, shocking reveal?)
From the looks of the show’s three producers, E! News’ Giuliana Rancic (formerly DePandi), Mark Cronin, and Cris Abrego (The Surreal Life, Rock of Love), this show promises to be as ridiculous as it sounds. Add to that celebrity surgeon Terry Dubrow of Fox’s The Swan and host Shana Moakler (who’s famously married to Blink 182 drummer, Travis Barker) and you’ve got a recipe for one un-classy bridal competition.
Ladies, is this what we’ve come to? It wasn’t enough to witness New Jersey housewives throwing tables, extreme plastic surgery makeovers, slap fights, and Bridezillas terrorizing their families; now we’ve got to throw them all into one big basket-o-crazy.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter